Good Shotgun Mics for under 60 Bucks?

Q. i need suggestions for good quality shotgun mics for my new Canon HV40

im going to be making a few short films in the coming future and i want the sound quality to be better then my previous.
which sounded terrible
i have a budget of $60 (US) to spend i want the best mic for that value.
thanx in advance :)

A. Nice camcorder. Too bad you can't do better with the audio.

For a little more $, the NRG Research SA-568.

For your budgeted $, the Audio Technica ATR6250. Not shotgun, but good, affordable stereo condenser. Same with the NRG SA-800.

When you plug a mono shotgun into that stereo 1/8" (3.5mm) plug connects only to one channel so you need to pan that with an audio editor (like Audacity) when you edit the video.

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What are the best camcorders for under $600?

Q. I am looking to get started in amateur film, and I don't have a giant budget. Does anyone know the best quality digital camcorder that fits my budget?

A. Sony HDR-CX260 amazing camcorder you can shoot 8.9 megapixel photos
and captures video in full hd at 60 frames per second very smooth motion
if you're gonna shoot far objects i suggest that you take a tripod with it better for stability
and up to 5 hours filming.

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What is the best camcorder under $300?

Q. Preferably one with a decent battery life, good quality, and easy to hold.

A. Consumer level HD camcorders have 4 problems. 1) Blurry, fuzzy, out of focus areas closely around people in videos taken by consumer level HD camcorders. 2) Any movement, even a wave or lifting an arm, while in front of a recording consumer level HD camcorder, results in screen ghosts and artifacts being left on the video track, following the movement. Makes for bad video, sports videos are unwatchable. 3) These Consumer level HD camcorders all have a habit of the transferred to computer files are something you need to convert, thus losing your HD quality, to work with your editing software. 4) Mandatory maximum record times - 1 hour, 30 minutes, 8 minutes, 3 minutes � four different times advertised as maximum record time for some consumer level HD camcorders. No event I have ever been to is that short. Either take multiple camcorders or pack up with out getting the end of the event on video.

With a MiniDV tape camcorder, record 60 or 90 minutes ( camcorder settings), 90 seconds or less to change a tape and record for 60 or 90 more and repeat till you run out of tapes.

You can get a Canon ZR960 for $250. It is a MiniDV tape camcorder, has a Mic jack. You will need a firewire (IEEE1394) card ($25 to 30) for the computer and a firewire cable (less than 10) to be able to transfer video to your computer. To say this is not HD, think about this. It would cost in excess of $3500 to get a HD camcorder that could equal the video Quality of a $250 Canon MiniDV tape camcorder.

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Best mini camcorder for or under $60?!?

Q. ones that are similair to the flip? A sd card slot would be nice to.

A. If by "best" you also mean "good," then you won't likely won't find any. You could try looking for Aiptek's older HD cameras, the A-HD and GO-HD. Preferably the GO-HD, which features an optical zoom. They'll cost you just under $100.

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A video-camera/camcorder under 500 dollars with best video quality possible?

Q. I recently made a short film with my friends just using a digital camera that had a video capablities. Now i realized how much fun filming is and I want to do more. Now i just don't know what kind of video camera to get. I have a budget of up to 500 dollars and i want something that has really good quality(I know I might be asking for too much), has a large storage, and can be used with a tripod. I want to be able to edit my videos, but they won't be professional just for personal self-satisfaction. Really appreciate it.

A. Consumer level HD camcorders have 4 problems. 1) Blurry, fuzzy, out of focus areas closely around people in videos taken by consumer level HD camcorders. 2) Any movement, even a wave or lifting an arm, while in front of a recording consumer level HD camcorder, results in screen ghosts and artifacts being left on the video track, following the movement. Makes for bad video, sports videos are unwatchable. 3) These Consumer level HD camcorders all have a habit of the transferred to computer files are something you need to convert, thus losing your HD quality, to work with your editing software. 4) Mandatory maximum record times - 1 hour, 30 minutes, 8 minutes, 3 minutes � four different times advertised as maximum record time for some consumer level HD camcorders. No event I have ever been to is that short. Either take multiple camcorders or pack up with out getting the end of the event on video. Not to mention, but the computer you upload your HD files to has to have at least a 1 GB video card and a separate Audio card that can support Direct X® 9 technology. Your normal every day computer has massive troubles with HD video. Consumer level HD camcorders interpolate the video. This means they take one frame, make up the next 4 or 5 frames, take a frame and repeat this, over and over, for the remainder of the video, every video it takes is like this. With a MiniDV tape camcorder, record 60 or 90 minutes ( camcorder settings), 90 seconds or less to change a tape and record for 60 or 90 more and repeat till you run out of tapes.

You can get a Canon ZR960 for $250. It is a MiniDV tape camcorder, has a MIC jack. You will need a Firewire (IEEE1394) card ($25 to 30) for the computer and a Firewire cable (less than 10) to be able to transfer video to your computer. To say this is not HD, think about this. It would cost in excess of $3500 to get a HD camcorder that could equal the video Quality of a $250 Canon MiniDV tape camcorder.

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/camcorders/consumer_camcorders/vixia_hv40#Overview

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Camcorder under $500 with 24 fps and 60 fps(in addition to 29.97)?

Q. Just wondering as I am looking for a camcorder with good slow motion

A. I would suggest Canon VIXIA HFS100 HD Flash Memory Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom.1920 x 1080 Full HD recording; 24p Cinema Mode, 30p Progressive Mode.High quality video.

or cheaper one Canon VIXIA HF200 HD Flash Memory Camcorder with 15x Optical Zoom
1920 x 1080 Full HD recording; 24p Cinema Mode, 30p Progressive Mode

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What are the differences between a camcorder and a professional video camera?

Q. Are there huge differences in the video quality you can get from a HD consumer camcorder and a little "professional" cameras...the type videographers and local news stations use on location. What are the other main differences in capability?

A. Consumer camcorders have small lenses and small imaging chip(s). This combination results in their not doing too well in low-light situations. Prosumer and pro-grade camcorders have much larger lenses and larger imaging chips.

Consumer camcorders' manual controls are generally not easily accessible. Prosumer and pro-grade camcorders have easily accessible manual zoom, manual focus, manual iris/exposure, manual shutter and manual audio controls... and neutral density filters and video gain control.

Many consumer camcorders generally do not have any mic jack or other audio-in capability other than the built-in mics. A few have a 1/8" (3.5mm) stereo mic jack (but generally no manual audio control). Prosumer models generally have a 1/8" (3.5mm) stereo mic jack with manual audio control. Pro-grade camcorders have built-in XLR audio connectors.

Consumer camcorders are generally built to be used hand-held, even though no one should ever do that. Prosumer models are larger - and while designed to be hand held, rarely are; the large ENG (Electronic News Gathering) pro models are nearly always shoulder mountable. The advantage of the shoulder mount translates into a much steadier shot - though a tripod or camera crane or other steadying device would be steadier than shoulder mount.

Other features like frame rate, interlaced vs progressive frame capture, add-on lens selection and quality, LANC (a wired remote) jack availability, matte box availability, filter selection, will also come into play.

You will also find that the vast majority of the pro camcorders use miniDV tape or save to an external hard drive that stores in DV or HDV format (same as miniDV tape). Panasonic has a few new internal hard drive or flash memory pro-grade camcorders. Red has a family of them. Sony, Canon and JVC pro lines continue to be on the DV/HDV page.

In good daylight, tripod mounted, no movement of the subject or the camera, with normal audio levels, it would be a challenge to differentiate 1080i/p 30fps video. Deviate from this, and the differences get very obvious, very quickly. Video is captured under lots of different lighting conditions, there may not be time to set up a tripod, and audio levels can be from 0 to REALLY LOUD in an instant... and the reason we capture video is for the motion...

Under many conditions, the ENG camcorder audio is not even used even though it is captured - an external field recorder (Edirol, Zoom, Marantz, M-Audio, Fostex) is used to capture the audio you end up hearing on TV and a separate audio person is employed just to be sure the audio is correctly captured.

So yes, there are huge differences - which is why a low-end consumer camcorder costs less than $300 and a decent pro camcorder can be as low as $3,000 or as high as $60,000...

But a skilled person with a low-end camcorder will always capture much better video than a non-skilled person with the most expensive camcorder...

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What type of camcorder should I use for posting videos on Youtube and to put on to DVDs?

Q. I need a camcorder I'm just not sure wheter to get MiniDV, MiniDVD, etc. Help!

A. MiniDV has been around longer and is cheaper than a MiniDVD camcorder. For all intents and purposes, the quality is the same as MiniDVD (though MiniDV is capable of higher quality than miniDVD can achieve). MiniDVD burns directly onto the discs which you can put into your computer and edit or upload to the internet. With MiniDV, you need an IEEE1394 firewire cable to connect your camcorder to an appropriate IEEE port. Your will have to buy the cable, and maybe an adapter as well if your computer doesn't have the port. You can get both for cheap though - under $30 at amazon.

MiniDVDs are only able to record 30 minutes onto a disc, where as MiniDVs are able to record 60 minutes at high quality onto a tape. Go to a store and try some out and see how they feel in your hands and which you think would be more convenient for you. You can't really go wrong with either one for youtube purposes, though I feel that MiniDV has more upside as a purchase.

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